Screen savers

There is a strange kind of amnesia that overtakes me in certain shops: bookshops, DVD shops, CD shops. I stare hopelessly at the rows of titles, usually becoming desperate to spend a penny within a matter of seconds, before buying something I’ve never heard of, or have read/seen/heard already, and rushing out to find a lavatory.

At this time of year every magazine carries lists of recommended books — but what of films? Don’t we all watch films at Christmas? And, if we don’t, we should: what better way to let the love back into the home, after the over-indulgence and the disappointments that make up Christmas, than a couple of hours of hush time in front of a brilliant film. And I don’t mean, watch a bit with the lights on, take a phone call and then go and have a bath. I mean you all sit down in the same room, shut the door, kick the dog off the sofa and turn off the telephone.